Feds estimate deportation costs $12,500 per person

Several dozen people march in front of the federal courthouse in Yakima, Wash. on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011, to show their support for residents who were arrested during an immigration raid in Ellensburg, Wash. (AP Photo/Shannon Dininny)

A high-level immigration official says it costs $12,500 to arrest, detain and deport each person removed from the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy director Kumar Kibble has announced that cost at a House subcommittee hearing. Wednesday’s hearing focused on whether the Obama administration is doing enough to round up people working illegally in the U.S. ICE deported almost 393,000 people from the U.S. in 2010. At $12,500 per person the cost to remove them was almost $5 billion.

An estimated 11 million people are in the U.S. without proper documentation.